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About first ladies abigailfillmore
ABOUT THE WHITE HOUSE * FIRST LADIES OUR FIRST LADIES: 18th Century about_first_ladies_marthawashington Martha Washington about_first_ladies_abigailadams Abigail Adams 19th Century about_first_ladies_marthajefferson Martha Jefferson about_first_ladies_dolleymadison Dolley Madison about_first_ladies_elizabethmonroe Elizabeth Monroe about_first_ladies_louisaadams Louisa Adams about_first_ladies_racheljackson Rachel Jackson about_first_ladies_hannahvanburen Hannah Van Buren about_first_ladies_annaharrison Anna Harrison about_first_ladies_letitiatyler Letitia Tyler about_first_ladies_juliatyler Julia Tyler about_first_ladies_sarahpolk Sarah Polk about_first_ladies_margarettaylor Margaret Taylor about_first_ladies_abigailfillmore Abigail Fillmore about_first_ladies_janepierce Jane Pierce about_first_ladies_harrietlane Harriet Lane about_first_ladies_marylincoln Mary Lincoln about_first_ladies_elizajohnson Eliza Johnson about_first_ladies_juliagrant Julia Grant about_first_ladies_lucyhayes Lucy Hayes about_first_ladies_lucretiagarfield Lucretia Garfield about_first_ladies_ellenarthur Ellen Arthur about_first_ladies_francescleveland Frances Cleveland about_first_ladies_carolineharrison Caroline Harrison about_first_ladies_francescleveland Frances Cleveland about_first_ladies_idamckinley Ida McKinley 20th Century about_first_ladies_edithroosevelt Edith Roosevelt about_first_ladies_helentaft Helen Taft about_first_ladies_ellenwilson Ellen Wilson about_first_ladies_edithwilson Edith Wilson about_first_ladies_florenceharding Florence Harding about_first_ladies_gracecoolidge Grace Coolidge about_first_ladies_louhoover Lou Hoover about_first_ladies_eleanorroosevelt Eleanor Roosevelt about_first_ladies_besstruman Elizabeth Truman about_first_ladies_mamieeisenhower Mamie Eisenhower about_first_ladies_jacquelinekennedy Jacqueline Kennedy about_first_ladies_ladybirdjohnson Claudia Johnson about_first_ladies_patnixon Patricia Nixon about_first_ladies_bettyford Elizabeth Ford about_first_ladies_rosalynncarter Rosalynn Carter about_first_ladies_nancyreagan Nancy Reagan about_first_ladies_barbarabush Barbara Bush about_first_ladies_hillaryclinton Hillary Clinton 21st Century about_first_ladies_laurabush Laura Bush administration_michelle_obama Michelle Obama ABIGAIL POWERS FILLMORE b.1731 -- d.1802 First of First Ladies to hold a job after marriage, Abigail Fillmore was helping her husband's career. She was also revealing her most striking personal characteristic: eagerness to learn and pleasure in teaching others. She was born in Saratoga County, New York, in 1798, while it was still on the fringe of civilization. Her father, a locally prominent Baptist preacher named Lemuel Powers, died shortly thereafter. Courageously, her mother moved on westward, thinking her scanty funds would go further in a less settled region, and ably educated her small son and daughter beyond the usual frontier level with the help of her husband's library. Shared eagerness for schooling formed a bond when Abigail Powers at 21 met Millard Fillmore at 19, both students at a recently opened academy in the village of New Hope. Although she soon became young Fillmore's inspiration, his struggle to make his way as a lawyer was so long and ill paid that they were not married until February 1826. She even resumed teaching school after the marriage. And then her only son, Millard Powers, was born in 1828. Attaining prosperity at last, Fillmore bought his family a six-room house in Buffalo, where little Mary Abigail was born in 1832. Enjoying comparative luxury, Abigail learned the ways of society as the wife of a Congressman. She cultivated a noted flower garden; but much of her time, as always, she spent reading. In 1847, Fillmore was elected state comptroller; with the children away in boarding school and college, the parents moved temporarily to Albany. In 1849, Abigail Fillmore came to Washington as wife of the Vice President; 16 months later, after Zachary Taylor's death at a height of sectional crisis, the Fillmores moved into the White House. Even after the period of official mourning the social life of the Fillmore administration remained subdued. The First Lady presided with grace at state dinners and receptions; but a permanently injured ankle made her Friday-evening levees an ordeal--two hours of standing at her husband's side to greet the public. In any case, she preferred reading or music in private. Pleading her delicate health, she entrusted many routine social duties to her attractive daughter, "Abby." With a special appropriation from Congress, she spent contented hours selecting books for a White House library and arranging them in the oval room upstairs, where Abby had her piano, harp, and guitar. Here, wrote a friend, Mrs. Fillmore "could enjoy the music she so much loved, and the conversation of...cultivated society...." Despite chronic poor health, Mrs. Fillmore stayed near her husband through the outdoor ceremonies of President Pierce's inauguration while a raw northeast wind whipped snow over the crowd. Returning chilled to the Willard Hotel, she developed pneumonia; she died there on March 30, 1853. The House of Representatives and the Senate adjourned, and public offices closed in respect, as her family took her body home to Buffalo for burial. ---- Click about_presidents_millardfillmore here to read the biography of President Millard Fillmore. MD5: 6f5e43da66da99b5aed0d908137f6b14 Original URL: http://whitehouse.gov/about/first_ladies/abigailfillmore/